i am building a new house and will have an upstairs 12x12 room. i am a musician and would like to keep most of the sound in the room as not to bother the wife. 1/2 the room will already have r13 insulation. my builder suggested completing the room in r13 and putting r19 in the floor. will this do what i want it to for cheap? also, what types of hot/cold issues will i run into if i do this?

The best way is to use the same stuff they use in movie theaters. Owens Corning makes a similar product. But, if you are framing the house with typical lumber the sound will travel through all of the wood. The insulation will help although not much.

Insulation is just one component of a sound isolation solution. I will have to take a look at the Wall Damp material and get an idea of pricing. This looks similar to Mass Loaded Vinyl (~$1.50 sq ft) that is a sheet that is applied between two layers of gypsum board. There is also a viscoelastic glue that can be applied between two layers of gypsum board for around 1/2 the price of MLV. The room within a room approach is one of the best if you can afford the loss in interior space. Staggered stud wall is another approach that requires less space. And of course steel studs perform better than wood if that's a possibility.

so, stuff between the joists with insulation, put the subfloor back on -- don't pack any fiberglass insulation! for you, use cellouse --

then, put down a layer of 2" thick Styrofoam, then a layer of 0.75" plywood with its seams crossways to those of the foam -- you can glue the 2 with structural glue. if you want to isolate the walls, then add Styrofoam covered with 0.375" tk drywall,

as for the walls -- read at MOTHER-OF-TONE.com --
you don't want a dead room, just to isolate it -- pine boards would be ok separate 0.75", treat with oil -- do not paint -- use carpet, acoustic ceiling --

wood in a room adds to sound! just do not have sound bouncing --

you will probably stay warm enuf from activity & equip -- cooling is a problem! set unit away & use flex duct between -- BIG duct to have low velocity, lo noise -- start with room as cool as you can stand -- take breaks & let a/c catch up --

[Edited by cem-bsee on 03-08-2005 at 10:05 PM]

03-09-2005, 11:06 AM

aerlpam

new house insulation

Don't confuse thermal insulation with acoustic insulation.

Although fiberglass batts can and are used they are not the best for noise control. The overall improvement in reduction in sound transmission from room to room is minimal when using fiberglass batts

I'm afraid if you go "cheap" you will be disappointed with the end result.

There are numerous resources on the internet on products and construction details (double layer of drywall, isolation products, floating floor construction, etc) you can do to improve noise control.

I installed batt insulation in all my interior walls when building our new house. The improvement in sound transmission is noticeable but not what I had hoped.

Often times more experience is gained by doing something wrong and knowing what not to do the next time!

Good luck!

03-09-2005, 01:04 PM

baffin789

I just went through all this with a house I'm currently having built. Look at this site http://www.quietsolution.com/?google It has a cost comparison/decibel reduction of the many different ways to isolate sound in both walls and floors. By the way, if they use batt insulation on your house, plan on spending at least two full days using scraps to insulate all the voids they miss! Behind exterior wall plugs, 1-3 inch gaps at the top and bottoms of exterior walls, behind exterior wall plumbing, behind all wiring through exterior walls and the list goes on and on. The more you look the more voids you'll find. Tell the contractor to hold off on the drywall until you have had time to fix the insulation.